When I left for India in January, my father was in the midst of reading Steve Jobs's biography. Jobs spent a period of time in India, apparently at an ashram or something, and he came back with all of these ideas about Eastern spirituality and yoga and vegetarianism and whatnot. And my father was terrified that I would come back with these same hokey ideas. Unfortunately for him, I might actually come back totally into yoga and a more intense vegetarian than when I left. (Sorry, Dad, but I'm not going to eat the deer that you shoot.)
It's all because of this week in Rishikesh. I'm totally digging this scene. I'm not really digging the whole "White man finding himself" type that exists in full force in this town, generally replete with dreadlocks and bad tribal tattoos on biceps and forearms. However, yoga is doing good things for me. Like really good things. I've done more physical activity in the past few days than I have in a while, and I feel pretty fit.
Part of this physical activity was a 10-km hike from our guest house to a waterfall. That's right. A waterfall. We didn't swim in the waterfall or jump off the waterfall. It was more of a low-risk wading situation, but it was still incredibly pleasant. After sitting in the water for a while, I lay on a huge boulder for even longer. It was simply wonderful.
We did yoga twice today. Once in the morning and again after the hike. My sun salutations are totally popping now, let me tell you. Our yoga teacher also cracked all of our backs, which was phenomenal because I've felt like there's been a metal rod in my back since I got here.
Oh, did I mention that we also learned how to give ayurvedic massages today? I'm awful, and I think I may have hurt our friend who willingly volunteered to be the massage "victim," but I sort of know what to do with the massage oils now.
What this week has been good for, if nothing else, has been the opportunity to take a break and relax. For the first time in months, I've had free time. Time to myself in which I can do what I want. I've been eating what I want to eat, not just what my host mother or the program center feeds me. Choices are great!
I'm also realizing more and more what I need to be happy, the things that I need to build into my schedule in order to be functional. I need to eat vegetables and fruits in abundance. I like yogurt with museli and honey for breakfast. I need to drink coffee in the morning. I need alone time so that I can decompress, without thinking about other people. I need to exercise regularly.
What's been hard about this program is that I've been on
their schedule, and I've spent so much time trying to adapt that I've been ignoring my own basic needs. In our yoga lecture, we were talking about why yoga is so important. It seems to be really contradictory to focus on yourself so much in order to love the rest of the world. It ultimately comes off as really selfish, and it sort of is. But unless you are performing at your best, it'll be impossible to do anything else.
I'll leave you with a car metaphor, because who doesn't love a good car metaphor?
Your body is a car, and life is a highway. If you try to drive down that highway at a reasonable speed in a janky car that's rusting out at the bottom and that hasn't had an oil change in years and that doesn't shift gears properly, you're bound for disaster. You need a car that's well-maintained and cared for, that gets regular tune-ups, and that's when you can safely cruse on the Autobahn at full speed and then some. Yoga is those regular tune-ups.
At least, that's what the guy teaching me yoga in India says.
